Malaysian authorities turned up the heat on Goldman Sachs, filing the first criminal charges against the US bank in relation to the so called 1MDB scandal.

Authorities alleged that Goldman misled investors when the bank knew that proceeds from 1MDB bond sales it arranged would be misappropriated.

The Malaysian government is seeking fines well in excess of both the $2.7bn (€2.3bn) of allegedly misused funds and the $600m in fees received by Goldman on the deals.

Goldman has blamed rogue employees for any wrongdoing in relation to 1MDB, a state-owned investment fund.

"Their fraud goes to the heart of our capital markets," Malaysian attorney general Tommy Thomas said in a statement in announcing the charges yesterday.

"If no criminal proceedings are instituted against the accused, their undermining of our financial system and market integrity will go unpunished."

Goldman Sachs's role, raising about $6.5bn for 1MDB in 2012 and 2013, has evolved into its thorniest scandal since the global financial crisis a decade ago triggered a public backlash against banks. Former Goldman partner Tim Leissner has pleaded guilty to US bribery charges and his former deputy, Roger Ng, was arrested in Malaysia.

It put a third Asian executive on leave.

Along with targeting the firm, Malaysia filed related charges against Mr Leissner and Mr Ng, as well as former 1MDB employee Jasmine Loo Ai Swan and fugitive financier Low Taek Jho.

Goldman Sachs said it will "vigorously defend" itself against the charges spokesman Edward Naylor said in an email.

"We believe these charges are misdirected," he said, adding that the bank continues to cooperate with all authorities investigating the matter.

The indictment focuses on circulars and memoranda that Goldman prepared for the 1MDB bonds, saying that they contained statements that were false or misleading or both. Malaysia is pursuing the claim on the basis that the relevant bond documents were sent to the regulator in its offshore banking haven in Labuan, and therefore were covered by its securities law, Thomas said in the statement.

"The criminal charges of this nature are grave, and it goes to the core of Goldman's business as an investment bank," said Nizam Ismail, a partner at RHTLaw Taylor Wessing in Singapore.

"If the outcome of the case results in a criminal conviction against the bank, there are potentially severe reputational and financial risks to the bank, as well as the bank's standing as a licensed financial institution with regulators worldwide."

Officials in Malaysia had previously said they were seeking a full refund from Goldman Sachs for the fees it received for the 1MDB bond sales.

The $600m Goldman earned from the bond issues dwarfed what banks typically make from government deals.